“No way.” Heather delivered the flat words along with a glower at Max’s face. “You want me to ride your back? Is that some kind of dragon sex thing?”

His snort of laughter made her irritation hit home. She took a step back from him as he said, in a voice still carrying laughter, “I assure you it isn’t. I want to show you the world. Well, part of it, and to do that you have to be in the air.”

She looked at the edge of the high roof and then back at him. The wind was stronger up there and her hair waved about her face. She brushed it back. “I don’t know. I mean, I was scared you’d drop me before.”

“That’s because you were hanging onto my foot. You’ll be on my back.”

“What if I fall?”

“I’ll catch you before you hit the ground if you do, and really you won’t. Just use your thigh muscles to hold yourself in place and put your hands on my shoulders. You’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, that sounds totally safe,” she shot back sarcastically.

“It is.”

Was it? She really doubted it. She also hated being a chicken. She gave him another look. He was still human right then, and that led to another question. “So how do I get on? I mean, do I just jump on your back and then you change or whatever?”

“I’d prefer you waited until after I change.”

She looked at the sky and the ground, so far below, again. Her heart ticked a fast beat in her chest. “Um…okay.”

He changed. It happened so fast she barely had time to register that he even had. Still, even though she had known he was a dragon, her feet took her backward and right toward the edge of the roof. He reached out and grabbed her, holding her in place. He said, “It’s all right,” in a gentle voice that made her heart flutter.

She said, “Sorry. It startled me.”

“I imagine so.”

She stepped closer to him. Now that she was that close, she found herself marveling at him. The scales covering his flesh were thick, armored even. They shone and glistened like the wings of ravens, and she reached out a tentative finger and stroked it down his side. A hot flush raced upward from her crotch, confusing her. His scales were firm but yielding, not so much stiff armor as fleshly armor. A hard gasp came up in her throat, and she stepped back, unable to keep looking at him. He was so beautiful, and such a rare thing that she found herself at a complete loss.

Words came. “I didn’t mean you are a monster. I just meant…I mean, in my world…that’s what they call….you, you know…I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.”

His head turned. His eyes were still his, and she managed to look into them despite the wave of dizziness threatening to topple her in every way possible. He said, “Thank you. Are you flying with me?”

Was she? Did she really dare? She swallowed. “Will I hurt you?”

“No.”

She took a long breath. “How do I get up? You’re pretty tall.”

He chuffed laughter. Small streams of smoke came from his nostrils. “Good point.”

He knelt, folding his body down in a graceful way that left her able to straddle his back. Her fingers found that smooth spot between his neck and shoulders and then the hard ridges below it. “Do I hold onto…um…these?” Her fingers stroked those ridges and more heat flooded into her lower body, leaving her confused and a little frightened.

“Yes. I’ll go slowly.”

She held on. His body rose into a standing position. Her legs gripped the sides of his body. Then he took flight, slowly levering himself off the rooftop and into the sky beyond it. A little scream came from her mouth as she looked down at the vista of empty sky and earth below. “Okay. Um, yeah. That’s….uh. Scary but…” Thrilling. It was thrilling.

He asked, “Are you okay?”

No. yes. I don’t know. “I think so.”

His mighty wings stroked the air, taking them higher still. She held on, her eyes fastened on the ground that was rapidly dwindling beneath them. The view became one of patched earth and mountain, and then they were flying away from the castle and toward the world beyond.

Then he dropped lower. The air got thicker, and she found herself able to fully breathe. The wind ran over her face and body, sending her hair flying back from her face. A sense of freedom, sheer and impossible freedom, hit her and a smile sprang up. A lightness entered her heart, and for the first time in a very long time, everything just melted away. She forgot about her constant discontent, her unhappiness with her job and her life and the hurt Todd had left in his hateful wake. There was just sky and clouds and the feel of a dragon between her legs. It was a heady thing, one she knew that she may never get to experience ever again.

He settled down lightly at the base of a tall cliff. Heather stared at the lush foliage, most of it alien to her, and not only because she wasn’t sure if it existed on her world but because she had never seen so much greenery, having been raised in cities where parks were the only real green space.

Trees dropped long limbs covered in glossy leaves of all shapes and sizes toward a long and wide pool of water that was also filled by a tumbling waterfall that ran over rocks, some as big as buildings. The sound of that water, rushing and wild, made her heartbeat speed up. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

He changed. His hand reached out and took hers. Tingles darted along her spine and made her face color a bit as heat surfaced yet again, leaving her hyper-aware of his touch and the way his touch felt upon her skin. He said, “Come on. It’s this way.”

They walked side by side. His hand still held hers, and he used that hold to guide her around boggy patches and slippery rocks. Birds sang from the trees and the grass, soft and a lush emerald green, waved gently in the soft breeze.

They went around the waterfall and then she saw it. She stopped, her mouth open and her eyes going round. “That’s incredible!”

It was. It was rather like a dragon version of Mt. Rushmore. The cliffs had been carved and dragons raced across the face of the cliffs. Beside them were knights, tall and wide, their swords planted into the very ground thanks to the clever carving of the rock they had been formed from.

Heather whispered, “Who made this?”

Max said, “It formed when we did. The battle was carved into the rocks by the magic that was used that day.”

Her fingers clamped down on his slightly. “I know you said that but I thought, I mean I thought it was just a legend or something. It…I am not doubting you, I swear, it’s just that things are so different here and I wondered, honestly, if you were maybe using the word magic to mean something else. I guess that is pretty silly. I mean, you’re a dragon and this world exists, so magic must exist too.

“There are some people in my world who believe in magic and witches and so on, but whether or not they have real magic, I couldn’t say. I was never someone who believed in that, or who thought any of that was possible. I have always been…I have never been much for going on faith and belief, I guess.” She paused for breath and asked, “Is there any magic left in my world?”

“Yes, of course. There’s magic in every world, even yours. But in your world, they’ve either killed it or hidden it under the cover of science so that those who fear it or who would use it badly cannot do so.”

She could see how science and magic could be viewed as the same thing. She said, “We’ve had a few scientists whose work got used for real evil.”

“I’m sure.” They stood there, staring at the rocks and the images upon it. “Here, magic is always present. It has to be for this world to stand. If the magic dies, this world dies. It’s as simple as that.”

As simple as that? She turned her head so she could see his face. “That’s…so how do you keep magic alive?”

“We just are magic.”

That phrase made her heart triple time it in her chest. He was definitely magical, of that there was no doubt. He said, “Come on.” He gave her hand a gentle tug, and they walked onward. His lean hip banged into hers, sending little shock waves through her system.

I want him. That’s crazy as hell, but I want him. Hard on the heels of that came a new thought. Can he read my mind?

She really hoped not but since she didn’t know for sure, she concentrated hard on clearing her brain of those thoughts, but the truth of them lingered on in her flesh, which was prickly and hot and shivering all over her bones. There was an undeniable wetness in her inner depths. She could not deny that she wanted him; it was written all over and within her body.

She stopped walking. “Is that a town or something?”

“It is.” They were at the very edge of a cliff now, looking downward into a fertile valley. “There’s a lot of people there. I’d rather walk in, if you don’t mind. They know of us, of course. Their ancestors came here with us, but even so, a dragon flying in can get them a little nervous.”

“I bet.” She eyed the steep descent “How do we get down without killing ourselves?”

“We take the path.” He pointed to a thin dirt track. She followed him to it. He said, “Here, put your hands at my waist and just try not to fall forward. If you think you are going to fall, just go backward. We’d be better off that way.”

Dry-mouthed at the steep incline and the sheer craziness of walking down an actual mountain, Heather said, “Yeah sure. Fall backward. Got it.”

Her hands went to Max’s lean waist. A long jolt of desire pulsed through her, stiffening her nipples. His hips rested just below her hands, and she could feel the heat of his skin below the simple shirt and trousers that he wore. That heat was echoing throughout her body, sending off crazy flares of want and need.

The feel of his hips and waist moving as they started down didn’t help calm that feeling either. Instead, that desire just grew stronger as she felt the flex and release of his long and lean muscles below her fingers and palms. She forgot to keep an eye out and nearly fell, teetering for a moment before realizing the danger she was putting both of them into and righting herself.

It took every ounce of her willpower to stop paying attention to his magnificent body and to pay attention to the path.

Max said, “Are you okay?”

Her feet faltered a little bit. She cleared her throat. “I am. Just a little nervous.”

He spoke in a soothing tone that made her feel both better and worse. “We’re almost there, and you’re doing great.”

She wasn’t doing great. Not in this world, and not in her own either. She asked, “Did you want to be king?”

He stopped walking. He stopped walking so suddenly that she actually walked right into his back. The hard and strong muscles that made up his ass and his back met her body, and she completely lost her breath and her entire train of thought.

His hands came down and pushed her hands away from his waist. She immediately felt the absence of him. That was an oddity in and of itself, but she didn’t give herself time, didn’t dare give herself time, to question why she felt that absence. They were about three-quarters of the way down now, and the ground had leveled into a sort of ledge. He peered over the side and down at the village below before leveling a direct gaze on her face.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever thought about it. It’s just the way things were. When we were made, my father was the first, and he was also the leader of the knights that were cursed to be dragons. I guess it was just a natural thing.”

She regarded him steadily. “A natural thing?”

A small vertical slash appeared between his eyebrows. “My father came from a time different than the one you live in. Back then, feudal law and rule of blood were common. Kings were born for the most part and others made by war. He seemed to fit both bills, I guess.”

She could agree to that but it had not escaped her notice that his answer had been evasive and uncertain. She knew she shouldn’t ask, but her thoughts of her own cowardice and career made her say, “If you could choose to be anything you wanted to be, what would you be?”

He gave her a sheepish smile. “The time when knights lived and fought on your world is over. Those times are over here as well. We’ve managed to come to some sort of peace with the Orcs, and we avoid the elves. There’s really no need to fight so we don’t, but if I had my choice, I’d be a knight.”

“I think you’d make an incredible knight.”

He smiled at her. “Let us hope that peace remains and I never have to find out.”

She gazed down at the small town and said, “I think I can make it from here.”

He nodded and pointed to where the path bumped sideways and then moved downward again. “All right then.”

She started walking, striding along right next to him. She wasn’t actually confident in her ability to make it down the side of that mountain; she just knew that if she continued to touch him, she was going to lose her usual inhibitions. There was just something about Max that made her so heated and left her so aching that she was afraid of it. Him too. Any man who could make her feel that way was a man she should not get close to.